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Sumit SinghalSumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

Vent Vert by Edward Suzuki Associates Inc

VENT VERT is Green Wind in French. As the name suggests, the thrust of the design was to add a new spirit of green to not only the new building but also the surrounding commercial environment. The building sits near the end of a busy shopping street called Azabu Juban where green is rather scarce. For this reason, the green façade was employed as an eye-catcher especially in light of the fact that the building stands at the corner of a bend in the street and highly visible from afar on the approach road.

However, what is unique about this green façade is that it can be enjoyed not only from the outside but also from the inside as well. Knowing from the outset that rental buildings in the neighborhood were still not fully occupied and the economy not promising as ever, the strategy was to create something unique in order to attract potential tenants.

Image Courtesy Edward Suzuki Associates Inc

To this end, the concept of “interface” employing a combination of screen and green was applied to the building’s face that would have a dual purpose to please both outsiders as well as insiders. As such, users would be able to view and experience the green from the respective interiors, be it a bar, a restaurant, a hair salon, etc.Needless to say, the green is basically maintained by automatic sprinklers.

Image Courtesy Edward Suzuki Associates Inc

Standing on a plot of land no larger than 117 square meters, each net floor space was relatively small compared to other rental spaces nearby. To counteract this smallness, another tactic other than green was used. It was the use of “maisonette” tenant spaces. In other words, six of the nine floors of the building were designed with a full floor and a mezzanine above it in order to make the spaces appear larger than they actually were. “Volumes” of space rather than floor “areas” were designed to be sold!

Image Courtesy Edward Suzuki Associates Inc

Where total building height restrictions did not allow a maisonette on the second floor, a one and a half story high ceiling made up for the difference. The seventh and the eighth floors were designed and built to be rented separately at first but are planned to be remodeled into a maisonette later as the building owners’ future residence.